Smiling in the Land of Smiles

So sorry that this post took longer than expected, but I'm back with the sequel post to my Malacca weekend trip :)

So after dinner, we decided to go to Jonker Street to visit the night market. As I mentioned before, I loveee Jonker Street because there's quite a lot to see (and taste) there, and I love the rustic, laid-back feel of the street, even though some might say the place is rather touristy. Oh well, I love being a tourist I guess.

Prior to this trip, I never knew Jonker had a night market, as I had only visited in the daytime before. Having been to other night markets, I was hoping that the one at Jonker would not disappoint. Our trip there started of with a requisite visit to San Shu Gong to get some snacks for friends and family back in Singapore. For those who don't know, San Shu Gong is well-known for its large variety of Malaysia-produced snacks such as tau sar piah, coffee mix, dodol etc. The shop is located right at the start of Jonker Street, and it's quite hard to miss the red building. I didn't take any pictures of the place as the front of the store was crowded with trishaws.

Digression:
The trishaws in Malacca are unlike any other that you would have seen in other countries! I was quite surprised by the overwhelming decorations the first time I visited haha. From Hello Kitty to Doraemon to Frozen, these trishaw riders really make an effort to pimp their rides :D

Check out the crazy lights

After the shopping at San Shu Gong, we walked down the crowded street that was now filled with pop-up stalls on each side. I bought myself a coconut shake (love coconuts!) to fuel myself for the walk. Personally, I feel that Jonker Street's night market is rather quiet compared to say, Bangkok's. There is also less variety, and a lot of the shops were selling Gula Melaka, shrimp paste, and other uniquely made in Malacca ingredients. Not my cup of tea (yet) I suppose.

Oh! But we did get to try the famous one-bite durian puffs  , which were quite yummy. The puff is like a durian xiao long bao that bursts in your mouth and fills it with yummy durian. What I didn't really like though, was that the size of each puff was too large for my mouth. so I had to bite it instead. Would really recommend that you try it at least once!

Cute mascot!

One-bite (or two for those with small mouths) durian puffs

Retro telephone and radio  spotted! Wonder if the shop still uses it?

Finally found the time to get down to chronicle my BKK tales - or food conquests rather haha.

So, I finally visited Chatuchak Weekend Market on my recent trip, and believe it or not, it was my first time there despite having gone to BKK a few times. Now I know what all the hype is about. :)


Although many people say the place has become a tad too touristy, I think that it is still a nice place to visit at least once when you go to BKK, because the place has SO.MANY.THINGS.

It is literally a shopper's haven, and you can find almost everything under the sun. Clothes, check. Accessories? Check. Home decor items? Yup. There is even a section selling pet clothing and care items! I think one day is definitely not enough to cover the whole place, but if you intend to just walk around and soak in the sights and sounds (and smells), a few hours will be a good amount of time to do just that.

My friends and I started our trip to Chatuchak with a good noodle meal at Soi 29 (we needed the energy to shop, hey). I did not take down the name of the place, but trusty Google says the name is 'Noodle Soup with Chicken', literally. The highlight of this dish for me was the noodles. Smooth and silky strands that went so well with the soup. Each bowl is 50 baht, or around 2 SGD.



After walking for an hour or two, my tired feet syndrome set in again, and my friend and I headed back to the chicken noodle store for a break. We had meant to get just a drink, but somehow ended up having a plate of chicken rice each. Oops :P

We went for another round of shopping after, and I managed to find a 200 baht stall selling dresses for you guessed it, 200 baht. I was really excited to see the stall and bought two dresses in 10 minutes! Shoppers gonna shop right?

My friends and I ended off our Chatuchak adventure with the must-try coconut ice-cream, and I'm glad I finally tried it! You get a choice of three toppings for each cup, and it was a nice cool treat to have on a sunny day.


A nice sweet ending to my BKK food and shopping posts :) Till the next post!

BKK Part I
BKK Part II

An alternative title I had for the post was OMNOMNOM, because honestly that was one of the main activities I did in BKK. The food there is so amazing I have to dedicate two posts solely on food alone :P

From the usual suspects like Tom Yum and Pad thai, to the modern toasts and waffles, my friends and I really ate our way through the streets of Bangkok. Here's the breakdown (or those that I managed to take a picture of before everyone dug in):


1) After You Dessert cafe


I'm sure many would have heard of the famed Shibuya Honey toast from After You. The cafe at Siam Paragon was packed when we visited, and it is easy to see (or taste) why.

We couldn't make up our minds over what to order because everything looked so good, and we finally settled on Nutella Toast, a Chocolate Mud Brownie and a Hazelnut pancake with nutella sauce. Very chocolatey, very yums.



The toast was really nice, and was lightly buttered on the inside. The proper way (in my opinion) to eat the toast would be: toast+ice cream+nutella = shiok

The pancakes and brownie were good as well, but not mind-blowingly awesome. Overall, it was a good place for desserts and I will definitely be back.

2) Soi 19 Wanton Mee and Braised Pork Rice
Another famous must-try in BKK, this place had a snaking queue outside when we visited. Most of the people queuing were either Singaporeans (lah) or Malaysians, and for awhile I thought I was back home.
The signature dishes (or only dishes) sold here are the wanton mee – available in both soup and dry versions, and the lu rou fan (braised pork rice). The four of us ordered a plate of dry noodles each, two bowls of soup noodles and three plates of rice. Sounds gluttonous eh? The portions are rather small I must say, and I finished my plate of noodles in seven bites. The main ingredient that makes the noodles so fragrant is LARD, lots of it. I don't eat fried pork blubber lard personally, so I don't really think the noodles were very special, they just smelt really yummy. The braised pork was really soft and melt in your mouth, and a bit different from the usual braised pork we have in Singapore. The prices are really affordable as well (35 baht or around SGD1.50 per plate).

I have left out mentions of where we ate tom yum and the usual thai food, because honestly, almost every stall serves a mean version of them. The best tom yum I had throughout the trip was actually from a roadside stall near Central World, of which I only took a spoonful of because of my paranoia of having street food haha. But if you have a strong stomach, do go for it :)

Will touch on food in Chatuchak in my next post!